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Laura e. Crook

~ writer by day, batgirl wannabe by night

Laura e. Crook

Tag Archives: adaptations

The Avengers: Just as awesome as you hoped

04 Friday May 2012

Posted by Laura Crook in Reviews

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adaptations, film: the avengers, joss whedon, reviews: film

After watching Cabin in the Woods, someone on tumblr commented “if this is what happens when we give Joss Whedon money, then we need to give him all the money.”

Random person on tumblr: I see your Cabin in the Woods and I raise you The Avengers. Because that was one of the most flawless superhero movies I’ve ever seen.

Several weeks ago a friend asked me which I was looking forward to more: The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises. I told him that I was looking forward to both for very different reasons, because (despite both being superhero movies) they’re very different films. Dark Knight Rises is the gritty conclusion to the Batman film reboot and The Avengers is a fun-but-serious, campy installation in a series of canonically linked films. And while I love me some gritty films (Hard Candy and The Town were both on my list of ten movies that define my character, after all), I have started to prefer the campy remakes over the gritty, for one very simple reason:

Comics are ridiculous.

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The Social Network (2010)

04 Thursday Nov 2010

Posted by Laura Crook in Reviews

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adaptations, reviews: film

When I heard they were making a movie about Facebook, I expected it to be a straight documentary.Happily, it wasn’t.That being said, I had pretty high expectations.“The Social Network,” was written by television powerhouse Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing” and “Studio 60”), directed by David Fischer (Fight Club, Seven and Benjamin Button) and starred both Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg, who is like Michael Cera, but more versatile.I expected nothing less than pure, unadulterated genius.

Instead, I received a good, entertaining movie.Maybe it’s my fault.Maybe I expected too much from a movie about a social networking site.To be fair, the acting was very good and the writing was excellent.The movie lags a bit in the beginning–the first 10 minutes are literally two characters sitting in a bar, talking–but once Zuckerberg hits his stride, the film does the same.

But don’t enter the movie theater expecting to like Mark Zuckerberg.Sympathize with him, maybe.Dislike him, probably.In my opinion there was only one likeable character in the entire film, and he was the one who was suing his best friend.“The Social Network” is witty, but not laugh-out-loud hysterical, so if you’re looking for a big laugh, don’t look here.

My favorite part of The Social Network was the writing.It’s classic Aaron Sorkin, which should excite fans of “The West Wing.”Get ready for some mile-a-minute conversations, because Jesse Eisenberg speaks FAST.The premise was simple and Zuckerberg’s motivation was elegantly expressed.

Should you pay 12 bucks to see this movie?It’s not a bad investment.It’s an entertaining and engaging film, but there’s nothing in the film that absolutely needs to be seen on a big screen.If you’re hesitant about paying for a movie theater ticket, then wait until it’s out on DVD and get it from Netflix.The story translates just as well on your little TV screen as it does in the theater.

Needless to say, The Social Network is a good movie for college students.Our lives basically revolve around Facebook, so it’s only natural that we’d want to see a movie about it.At its heart, this film is a commentary on the identity of our generation, and I think it communicates this wonderfully.

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For Colored Girls (2010)

04 Thursday Nov 2010

Posted by Laura Crook in Reviews

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adaptations, reviews: film

Some films are difficult to watch, and For Colored Girls is no exception. But the latest Tyler Perry film isn’t difficult to watch in the way, say… Gigli is. Watching For Colored Girls was like watching The Boy In the Striped Pajamas or Elephant. It’s hard to watch, but it’s important.

For Colored Girls, adapted from a play by Ntozake Shange, catalogues the lives and hardships of a group of seemingly unconnected African-American women living in the same city. It was written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry. To be honest, I was curious to see how Perry would handle a film that is so far off his beaten path. There was very little comedy to lighten the mood–and Perry wasn’t cross-dressing as an old black woman to force a laugh.

I could tell that the film had been adapted from a play, but the poetic monologues were incorporated beautifully into the action of the film. The opening sequence was, however, a little cheesy. Text flew around the screen while the voices of the actresses overlapped. The flying words gave the film a school-project look, and frankly? Tyler Perry could have done better.

There were also scenes that were too theatrical. There were scenes where I wanted to find Tyler Perry and shout “cinema is about nuance! Chill out, not everything has to be over the top.” The film was also very long–too long to keep my attention for the entire time–and many characters were nameless for the better part of the movie, which didn’t help me differentiate one from the other. That being said, the performances were phenomenal. If this movie doesn’t get at least four Oscar nods for Best and Supporting Actresses, I will be thoroughly shocked.

For Colored Girls wasn’t necessarily created to speak to my demographic, but it tackles issues that are important to everyone–regardless of gender or ethnicity.Rape, abuse, abortion, living with disease, murder… these are some of the problems and conflicts that the women in For Colored Girls. In the interest of full-disclosure, there are some scenes that are seriously difficult to take. If you’re upset by seeing violent rape or extreme physical abuse, be warned that there are moments when you should turn your head away.

If you’re looking for a date movie or a family movie or a feel-good movie then For Colored Girls is not a good choice. But if you’re looking for a solid film that you can sink your teeth into and discuss, at length, with your friends, then save the date, because For Colored Girls hits theaters on November 5th.

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Love and Other Drugs (2010)

04 Thursday Nov 2010

Posted by Laura Crook in Reviews

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adaptations, reviews: film

For the first time since Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have been reunited. The result is Love and Other Drugs, a film that may not be quite as earth-shattering as Brokeback was, but still doesn’t fail to bring home the bacon.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jamie, a pharmaceutical rep with a natural talent for charming everyone–especially women. Countering his performance is Anne Hathaway as Maggie, a 26 year-old woman with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease. Maggie is no-nonsense where Jamie is charming, but they do share one similarity: they want sex, not a relationship.

You don’t have to be a genius to figure out where this is headed, and the film does not disappoint. The two characters meet, start having sex against every hard surface they can find, and eventually fall in love. In the backdrop of all this drama is Jamie’s career ambitions (sell Zoloft on the turf of an established rep hawking Prozac) and Maggie’s disease. Not to mention that this film is set in the year 1996, providing ample opportunities to laugh at how far we’ve come in fourteen years.

For instance, the film’s opening sequence shows Jamie selling electronic equipment including, but not limited to, camcorders the size of a bulldog, boom boxes that he promotes as being light enough to carry easily on your shoulders, and TVs that are as deep as they are high. The film covers the first introduction of Viagra and rest assured: every other scene features a character wearing a plaid shirt tied around their waist.

Love and Other Drugs is both funny and serious, and you’re likely to laugh at a scene even as you’re tearing up. My one complaint is that I felt as though I was watching two different movies. First Jamie is selling Zoloft, then he makes the switch to Viagra. Then the drug rep storyline is thrust to the wayside to accommodate a 30 minute series of scenes in which Jamie frantically searches for a cure for Parkinson’s, dragging Maggie along for the ride. The movie felt like it was about an hour too long and far too rambling to keep my attention. More than once I turned to my watch to check how much time could possibly be left in this film.

However, if you don’t mind a long, somewhat disjointed film with top notch characters and excellent acting, this is a safe bet. Love and Other Drugs is the perfect date movie–when you get bored with watching Jake Gyllenhaal being charming, just make out with your date! As long as you resurface in time for the touching scene at a Parkinson’s support group, you’ll be golden.

Love and Other Drugs will be released on November 24th.

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